Statement on human rights in the information society

Early in November independent experts from all regions of the world met in
Geneva to discuss about the fundamental human rights in the information
society. The meeting was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation (SDC), the European Commission, the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the Government of Mali, Chair of the
Human Security Network. The experts produced a paper that was distributed
during one of the last preparatory conferences (PrepCom 3A) for the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), that started on 12 November in
Geneva. The paper calls on governments to protect all human rights related
to the information society; ranging from freedom of expression and
information to privacy to intellectual property rights, and from bridging
the digital divide to good governance.

About freedom of expression the paper states:
“Full respect for freedom of expression and information by States and non-State actors is an essential precondition for the building of a free
and inclusive information and communication society. ICTs must not be used
to curtail this fundamental freedom.”

Statement in MS Word (12.11.2003)
http://www.pdhre.org/wsis/statement.doc